The Man Who Would Be Jack the Ripper
by ptabs0101
Summary: Handsome Jack has found a replacement for his strongest enforcer, Wilhelm. He recently discovered a warrior who was kept alive for so long and has a legend that is even older than the Vaults themselves. The Vault Hunters must do whatever it takes to prevent him from releasing the most dangerous and the oldest Psycho in history, none other than Jack the Ripper.
1. The Release

**AN:**

**Okay, here's the first chapter of Borderlands 2: Revengeance I said that I was going to write. It's more of a prologue though but still.**

**Borderlands 2 and Metal Gear Rising crossover**

**It will start after the Vault Hunters complete the mission: The Once and Future Slab and right before the briefing for The Man Who Would Be Jack, which is fitting since Raiden's real name is Jack. This is also post-Revengeance and my own sort of sequel for.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Metal Gear Rising or Borderlands 2**

Prologue

Sanctuary, the safest place that you could find on Pandora, didn't feel as safe as it was before. Handsome Jack nearly had the city wiped off of the face of the planet and he would have succeeded if it wasn't for the Lilith's quick thinking and incredible Siren powers. So you can imagine that moral for the rebels known as the Crimson Raiders was at an all-time low.

On the other hand though, the former and the current Vault Hunters were preparing for the next step to retrieve the Vault Key from the egomaniacal tyrant. They needed a way to get past the lift that will only activate for the man himself, but Angel knows a way around that. That wasn't the only news she had for them though.

"Jack found a replacement for Wilhelm. Someone who is superior to him in every way, which was another reason Jack wasn't bothered with his death."

The news earned a collective gasp of disbelief among the Vault Hunters, new and old. They were all quite familiar with Handsome Jack's former enforcer since he was the one who defeated the previous Vault Hunters and nearly killed the current one.

"Who?" Roland, the leader of the Crimson Raiders asked the A.I.. Someone better than Wilhelm was crucial information if they want to overthrow Jack.

"Jack the Ripper," Angel answered.

At that moment, everyone busted out laughing with the exception of a certain assassin.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and I'm not even drunk yet!" bellowed Mordecai with a beer in hand as usual.

"What's next?" Axton mocked questioned in between laughter, "Handsome Jack kidnapped Santa Claus and we have to save Christmas or something?"

"Wait, b-but-"

"Or, or she wants us to help the Easter Bunny hide all his eggs." Gaige, the mechromancer interrupted the now infuriated Angel.

"Maybe she wants-" the gunzerker tried to add in his two cents but was cut off by what Angel did next.

The image of her face was replaced by a recording of a group of Hyperion Infantry with some Loaders accompanying them. They were examining a container that strange designs to it yet it still looked like humans made it.

It looked similar to a cryogenic container that is used to preserve meat products. The front cover was actually glass or another type of clear material but the viewers couldn't see what's inside because of the frost coated on the glass.

The Hyperion soldiers jumped back when the container began to open. Mist poured out from the vents on the sides. Right before the container opened up completely, two red glowing lights could be seen through the frosted glass. The glass was then violently exploded outward, hitting a Loader, which was thrown onto other Loaders and Hyperion Engineers thus reducing the small group into a combination of gore and scrap metal.

Something-or _someone_ jumped out of the container and tackled a Hyperion Infiltrator. They couldn't get a clear view of the figure, but they could clearly see it grabbed the man's arm that held his gun and _ripped_ it out right out its socket. With savagery that of a Stalker, it proceeded whack the poor man in the head with his own dismembered arm that shattered both the skull and the arm. It followed it up with a quick kick to the man's body even though the man was already dead.

The kick must have a lot of strength to it because the corpse blew up in a shower of blood and guts that bathed the thing that killed him in it. It was gross and they would have thrown up whatever they had eaten if it wasn't for the fact that they were used to something like this.

What unnerved them even further was of what the thing did next.

"Who's next?" the killer asked in a voice so menacing that made the Hyperion Engineers shiver in fear and some of them most likely wet themselves. This simple question was followed up with a dark chuckle that slowly turned into a maniacal laugh, which sounded even more demented than a Badass Psycho.

"Jack is back," he called out to them as his entire body glowed red like his eyes. Everyone knew for some reason that he wasn't talking about Handsome Jack.

He charged at the unfortunate enemies while laughing insanely.

The next few minutes were like watching a full-blown massacre of epic proportions. This was also done by what appeared to be one man with only his bare hands and who was laughing insanely while he was doing it.

The lone survivor of the group was a hapless Engineer who was so terrified that he resorted to try to crawl away from the bloodstained monster. The said monster merely walked up to the hysterical Hyperion employee and lifted him up like he weighed nothing with one hand. He stared at his soon to be victim with glowing red eyes and wore a sadistic grin on his face, which they could see even with all the blood covering his face.

"We're done here!" he roared as he stabbed his free hand into the man's chest and ripped the man's heart out. It gave out last beat before he crushed it with a loud splat.

He turned to look at the camera that recorded the whole thing and stared at whoever was watching through. The video was then shut off. Silence filled the entire room.

"What the hell was that?" Maya asked what they all wanted to ask.

"That was Jack the Ripper," the AI responded.

"But that's impossible!" the commando, Axton shouted, "The Ripper was just a horror story that parents use to make their kids behave."

"People also thought that the Vaults and Sirens were just legends and look how that turned out."

"Okay, if what you're saying is true and that is Jack the Ripper," Roland stated, "Then how is it that he's still alive?"

"Yeah, didn't the stories say that he was killed by some legendary hero or something," Lilith added.

"You mean the White Warrior Raiden, right?" the other Siren offered.

"Yeah, didn't Raiden kill Jack the Ripper?"

"Actually, the legends say that Raiden could only lock the Ripper away because he was immortal. You're probably thinking of the movie, which had a lot of misinterpretation."

"Please tell me that you have some good news though," the Crimson Raiders leader pleaded.

"The Ripper refused Handsome Jack's offer." This caused them to relax a little because it was extremely comforting to know that your nemesis doesn't have an immortal Psycho at his beck and call.

"But-"

"I knew that we were missing a "but"," muttered the mechromancer under her breath that everyone still heard.

"He's still in Opportunity and slaughtering everything Hyperion sends after him. So far, they were able to keep him in the city, but he'll also kill you guys too if you meet him."

"So what you're saying is that we have to go in a city full of Hyperion Loaders with a murdering psychopath that made a legend of killing people in the most brutal ways that still scares people until today and who also can't be killed." Roland summarized while wearing a grim expression.

"Pretty much."

Everyone voiced out the single thought that they all share.

"Well, fuck."


	2. Lightning Bolt

Chapter 1

White. That was all that Raiden could see. Eventually, his vision became clearer and he could see that he was in a hospital room. It looked like the same where he met his son, Little John for the first time. That memory put a smile on his face.

"It's about time you woke up," a voice that he recognized instantly spoke up.

He turned to the side to look at his wife and son smiling at him. He could tell that he must have been unconscious for quite awhile and they were waiting for him to wake up.

"I thought that I was dead there for a sec because I could've sworn that you were an angel," he remarked, sporting a grin.

"Don't be silly. You're not dead. And you're going to be released from here soon anyway."

Before he could respond, the door opened up to reveal his friends from Maverick, Courtney, Kevin, and Boris including the German scientist that designed his second cyborg body, Doktor.

"You did it, toravich!" exclaimed the Russian as he did a congratulatory smack Raiden's back.

"Everyone believes that you're a hero now!" Kevin gave him a thumbs-up as Courtney and Little John hugged him while chanting: "You're a hero!" over and over again.

"Wha- what did I do?" he was able to ask while being flocked by his friends and family. They didn't appear to hear him.

This left him confused as to what he did that earned him a congratulations like the one he was currently receiving. He glanced at Rose, hoping to get an answer only to see her smiling sadly with tears in her eyes.

For the second time, he tried to ask what was the problem and why was she crying until the door opened up to reveal three more newcomers.

"Sonny! George!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yo, Raiden!"

(giggle)"Nice to see you again."

The first two were the aforementioned children that Raiden saved in the past. Sonny was Russian and had ash blond hair similar to Raiden's hair while George was Guyanese, had black hair and a cybernetic arm, which Raiden had to cut off to save his life along with several others.

The reason for the previous outburst wasn't about this, but the fact that those two were suddenly older. They had become adults in a matter of months since the last time he saw them. This didn't make sense unless he was in a coma for many years but that didn't explain why the others didn't age at all if that was the case.

"You look like you saw a ghost… Jack," the third newcomer spoke, bring his attention towards him.

"No. Impossible. You're supposed to be dead."

"Yeah. That's right. You killed me with your own blade," mused the man.

The man was the very reason why he was upgraded. The very reason on how he was able to kill Senator Armstrong. This man was none other than Samuel Rodrigues also known as Jetstream Sam.

"In fact you can still see the scar you made," chuckled the Brazilian mercenary while pointing at the still bleeding injury that Raiden himself inflicted. For some reason, Jetstream Sam was fine despite having a fatal wound on his chest that should have killed anyone, even a cyborg.

"How are even still alive?"

Unexpectedly, it was Rosemary who answered.

"Because he's not, Jack," she answered, tone filled with sorrow. The atmosphere then changed from cheerful to something that matched her tone.

"What?"

"He's not alive," she continued.

Memories then flowed into his head. He was facing a woman that sneered at him evilly. Next, he was fighting giant beings that weren't like any Metal Gears he had seen before. Finally, he now knew why Sam was here, why everyone was here.

"You're dead. We're all dead, aren't we?"

"I'm sorry to say this but you're not."

"The battle is never over for people like us, Jack," Jetstream Sam cut in before Raiden could deny that.

"It's about time for you to wake up now, Dad," his son said to him, trying to hold back tears but failing at it. Darkness then started to consume the room around.

"WAIT! NOOO!" he was able to scream just as the darkness fully consumed his friends and family but leaving his wife behind.

"Good-bye, Jack. I will always love," she whispered softly to him as she finally faded as well.

"ROSE!"

00000

_Systems rebooting_

_Motor functions: optimal_

_Fuel cells: low_

_Health: 75%_

_Systems rebooted_

_Detecting multiple hostiles_

Raiden woke up to find himself in a container of some kind. He could also see said hostiles through the Plexiglas in front of him. They were an assortment of humans and UGs. The humans wore bright yellow uniforms that also resembles like armor while the UGs looked clunky and not remotely threatening save for their guns but that won't be a problem for him.

"Good. A little distraction is all I need," Raiden- no Jack the Ripper rippled in anticipation, preparing to kick open the Plexiglas.

With a kick that held the strength of a several tons, the lid was blasted off and hit a small mixed group of the soldiers and UGs. The result left a not so pleasant mess that would have disgusted him if he were still Raiden.

He charged at what he assumed to be the leader and made short work of him with his bare hands since he didn't have his High frequency blade on him.

The rational part of his mind made a note that the men he killed weren't cyborgs but the Ripper quickly dismissed it because he just wanted to kill someone right now.

He just wanted to lose himself in the ecstasy of taking life that he was taught to enjoy when he was young. He wanted to forget the war that made him Jack the Ripper. He wanted to have nothing to do with war, but he now knew that war was just a part of who he was.

Then he began to chuckle at the life he had and at war. It slowly turned to an all-out hysterical cackle. He laughed at how war had made him a monster. He laughed at how he met all of his friends and the love of his life, Rosemary through war. He laughed at how the battles finally took them away from him. Lastly, he laughed at how war had failed to take away the one thing that the man turned machine wanted gone the most: his life.

Eventually, his sudden fit ceased and left him hollow inside. This emptiness made him questioned on what was to become of him now. He had nothing to fight for, to protect, and to go home to. However, the void within him was instantly filled up by something he had almost forgotten about at the moment. A sadistic grin then replaced the sorrow on his face.

"Jack is back."

00000

_Few minutes later_

A bloodstained Raiden regained his senses after the enemies were reduced to corpses and scrap metal. He felt refreshed that he had something to keep his mind occupied but sadly, it didn't last long. So the emptiness that tried to ignore returned to him with full force. It left him once again overwhelmed.

He heard a small beeping noise coming from one of the men he had killed. Curiosity getting the better of him, he searched the body for the source of the sound. He found a small device that looked like a communicator. In an instant, he received a HUD that showed the devices schematics and it functions.

_Intercepting call to ECHO_

"Hey Kenny! You were supposed to send me Jack the Ripper already! I needed an immortal psychopath to kill the Vault Hunters and the Crimson Raiders yesterday! You better have an explanation on why you're taking so long!" an arrogant and rude voice shouted out to the man formerly known as Kenny.

"Because he's dead," Raiden answered the man other end with very noticeable trace of the Ripper in his tone. This man reminded him of the same people that would stoop low enough to achieve whatever they wanted. They were very same people that the Ripper wouldn't mind killing. So this guy wanted him to kill then he's going to get a personal demonstration on how he got his nickname.

"Who is this?!" the man demanded.

"Name's Jack."

"Okay, Jack who's most likely not as handsome as me, Handsome Jack, tell me what the hell is going on or I will have you killed in a very painful yet funny way!"

"Handsome Jack? Well, someone's a narcissist."

"Okay! That's it!"

"I also have nickname of my own. Wanna hear it?"

"No, not really."

"Too bad but it's Jack the Ripper."

The silence on the other end was obviously because the man was shocked beyond reason. Raiden could hear the man gasped at the revelation.

"Want to know how I got it? Why don't I give you a little demonstration later?" he asked the man as he followed it up with an insane laugh and then abruptly hung up his Codec.

00000

Handsome Jack was at his office waiting for the news about someone who share a similar name to him but had a more infamous story than him. Losing patience, he called the head of the team that he sent to retrieve the Ripper to see why they were behind schedule. He was definitely not expecting to hear some kind of Psycho wannabe answering. He was also not expecting that same Psycho wannabe to be in reality, Jack the Ripper himself. Worst of all, he had just insulted an immortal who had a reputation for killing people if they looked at him funny so he was pretty sure he had made it onto the murderer's list of would be victims.

"Well fuck."


	3. HF Surprise

**Disclaimer: I don't own Metal Gear Rising or Borderlands 2**

Chapter 2

The unfinished city of Opportunity was still sight a magnificent sight to behold. Five-stars apartments made from the sturdiest materials and giant statues of a certain egomaniacal CEO of Hyperion made out of gold. Once it was completed, this place will house the richest and most powerful families in the galaxy. This city was Handsome Jack's vision of a perfect society on Pandora.

The other man named Jack however didn't think so after hearing all the announcements and advertisements on the PA system. He was glad that his first thoughts about the man were proven correct.

"_I'm so going to enjoy killing that son of a bitch,"_ Raiden thought to himself, _"But I'm going to need a weapon."_

He had already tried using the guns that he had salvaged from soldiers who were more like construction workers that were given guns. They were unstable and he could only aim it properly after holding down the trigger for a while. That was something that the cyborg didn't like since he was trained to make all of shots count and conserve ammunition so these guns went against his shooting style. Plus, he also accidently crushes them with his enhanced strength and it had been a long time since he used an actual gun.

There was another thing that confused Raiden. It wasn't just the fact of how long he had been asleep or how he got here. Someone or something had modified his cyborg body.

His body now had a more human appearance that even he would mistake the artificial skin for the real thing. In fact, every exterior looked like his long lost human body including the special body part that he and his wife missed the most. He would have been grateful if it wasn't so disturbing. Who would even spend all that time and effort to make **that**? This reminded Raiden of the comments that Kevin and Doktor made about Mistral's chest when they first saw the female cyborg.

He was only wearing a form fitting shorts to cover himself and he had found a bathroom to wash off the blood on him. sadly, he couldn't find any spare clothes and was now walking in what normal people would call in his underwear.

He still had all of the enhancements that his third cyborg body had though. So, he basically looked like a human with what his son would say: "superpowers". That was the reason on how he was able to kill all those enemies unarmed.

The UGs that he had fought had a very simple design, which made them clumsy and slow moving. It seemed that were focused on quantity instead of quality since there was a lot of them. They also didn't have very thick armors so they crumbled like paper on impact from his fists.

Despite all of these advantages, he still needed a proper weapon. Not these cheapskate guns but an actual HF blade. He would need it when Hyperion finally sends in their big guns after him.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

A giant pod like UG landed in front of him while being accompanied by several bigger versions of the previous UGs that had cannon for arms and a large amount of the first ones he had fought. Suddenly, the giant UG emitted a white light from its giant red eye. Another one of those UGs materialized as if someone was making a 3-D diagram of it.

"That's going to be bitch," the cyborg ninja muttered to himself, "I really need my blade for this."

_Accessing High Frequency Murasama Blade_

"Wha-" he was shocked as a familiar red katana materialized in his right hand in the same manner as the pod UG summoned another UG.

"Where were you half an hour ago?!" he shouted at the inanimate blade as if it would answer him and tossed aside the useless gun from his hand.

He instantly overcame his surprised and went into his fighting stance. He was back to his full fighting capabilities.

He charged at the UGs while deflecting the bullets that they shot at him. The smaller UGs didn't require that much focus since a single slice from his blade easily cut them in half. The bigger UGs were a different matter altogether. Their armors were thicker so he aimed at the joints, which were less armored. He also noticed even smaller UGs that flew around repairing its comrades that didn't explode. To remove them from the equation, he threw some well-sized debris at them that accurately struck their targets. For the UG that made more, he used something that he wanted to see if he still had.

Raiden held the Murasama blade with both hands and activated his favorite feature: Blade Mode. The world around him suddenly became still, giving him awareness over everything around him. The UGs that he sliced apart were very slowly falling onto the ground in pieces. He then began to slash at the UG with deadly precision, aiming for the weak points in its armor. He continued his speedy yet precise assault on the unfortunate machine until it was in tiny pieces that you could put back together like a jigsaw.

Once the one-sided battle was over, his blade disappeared from hid hand but he knew it was still with him.

"Even though I killed you, you're still helping me," Raiden recalling the previous owner of the HF Murasama Blade.

He was broken out of his musings when his enhanced hearing picked up gunshots from far away. He could tell that there was a gunfight going on. This intrigued the cyborg. He could find allies that could give him more information on Hyperion, Handsome Jack, and Pandora.

The name Handsome Jack made Raiden scoff at it. He saw pictures of the man already and it was obvious that he wore a mask. Most likely, he wore the mask because his face was brutally disfigured and to conceal it. Then he started to call himself Handsome Jack. He must really be sensitive on how he looks. So he must have been devastated when he lost his good looks.

"_Maybe I should break his face even more."_

_Receiving call from John Xanders_

"_Now who could that be?"_ he wondered as he answered his Codec.

"Okay Mr. Ripper, we may have gotten off the wrong foot, but I think that we should hear each other out. You know like civilized folks?" it was the very same man that called himself Handsome Jack.

"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say…Mr. John Xanders," he replied adding the last part just to hear the other's reaction.

"How-how did you know that name?!" his tone betrayed his shock.

"Sixty seconds," he opted to not tell him and instead gave him a time limit for him to sell him bullshit which left the man stammering.

"Fifty-two seconds left."

"I was the one who freed you from your prison because I need you to do what you do best: killing. I want you to kill some pesky bandits that have been attacking my business. They're doing this to open the Vault and control the Warrior contained within it. They want to use the Warrior to wipe out all life on Pandora. I know that you don't really care about that but if you kill these bandits, who are conveniently here as well then you're free to do whatever the hell you want after this. So what do you say?"

"No."

"Wha-what? But I woke you up and freed you." It was obvious that the man thought that he could convince him to agree with him.

"I was actually having a very nice dream before you interrupted it. Besides, I'm not stupid enough to believe your lies especially coming from someone pathetic like you."

"Are you forgetting something?! I freed your crazy ass in the first place so I can lock you up again!" the CEO shouted, losing his temper.

"Yet here I am. So you have to do better than that," Raiden retorted.

"I don't give a damn if you're immortal! I'm going to make you regret insulting me!"

"I'm not immortal. I just don't fear death. Do you?" he simply said and terminated the call after he asked the masked man that last question.


	4. Confrontation

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot**

Chapter 3

After witnessing a gruesome massacre in high definition, it was safe to say that the Vault Hunters didn't want to end up with the same fate as the victims. So Axton and Salvador went to the nearest vending machines to restock on ammunition and buy better equipment. Gaige did some maintenance on her giant killer robot, Deathtrap and her robotic left arm. Zer0 was sharpening his Digistruct sword and cleaning his sniper rifle. Maya was researching on any and all subject on Jack the Ripper to find any weakness that they can exploit.

The Siren was the only one who wasn't successful in what they were doing. The stories on the Psycho were only specific when he was killing someone, but it was vague and sketchy when it actually came to the Ripper himself. The only times when it said that someone was able to defeat the Ripper were about the Great Hero Raiden locking Jack away every time he escaped from his prison. There was one though that said that they were able to trap the Ripper by dropping a city on him. But he was able to escape by cutting off the arm that was pinned down. So no matter what, it seemed that Jack the Ripper was just as unstoppable as the Warrior itself.

Seeing as they had no other choice but to go, Maya reluctantly went to the Fast-Travel Station to meet up with her companions. She was the second one to have arrived since the Mechromancer had finished first.

"Hey, Maya," greeted the redheaded cyborg who earned a nod in response from the bluenette.

Shortly afterwards, the Gunzerker and the Commando had arrived, sporting new shields and really big missile launcher on each of their backs.

"Those are pretty big guns. You boys compensating for something?" Gaige playfully teased the two.

"Yes. Yes we are," replied Axton, which made the Truxican turn to him in surprise.

"We're compensating for the fact that we could be killed by a monster that has plagued the nightmares of anyone at least once in their lifetime."

The youngest Vault Hunter was taken aback by Axton's comeback. It was clever and completely unexpected. The last part also had some truth to it because one time she had woken up screaming after listening to one the stories about Jack the Ripper. She convinced herself that they were just stories at the time. Oh, how wrong she was.

"Hey, where's Zer0?" Salvador asked, noticing that the assassin has yet to appear.

"First to have arrived/ Have been waiting for you guys/ Let's go already!"

In that exact moment that haiku was said, Zer0 materialized out of nowhere (knowing him, it was probably true) and startling the other Vault Hunters.

"Jesus, man! Do you want to kill us before the Ripper does!" Axton shouted at the man… alien…robot…thing while clutching his chest, trying to calm down his rapidly beating heart as well as the others.

"Don't make jokes like that," Maya scolded, acting colder than normal.

"Just trying to lighten the mood," the soldier defended with hands raised in apology.

"Besides, Handsome Jack is probably going to focus all of his attention on the Ripper. So we'll have a lot of breathing room this time," Gaige stated optimistically, "What's the worse that can happen."

00000

_At Opportunity_

"What was that you said Amiga!"

"Shut up, Salvador!"

They were all under heavy fire with countless Loaders spawning one after the other. Repair and Shield Surveyors flew around the battle fixing damaged Loaders or giving them shields. There was also a Badass Constructor with a Badass Loader by its side. They were backed into a corner and Axton along with Salvador couldn't afford to waste their missiles just in case they had to fight the Ripper after this. Zer0 though was in the middle of the conflict; duel wielding a handgun and a sword, cutting down and shooting the swarming machines like bugs.

If that wasn't the worst part, Hyperion had developed a new model of Loaders. It had a wolf-like body and moved much more agile than a skag. They couldn't get close to it because of its claws and they had difficulty shooting it from afar since it would just dodge their bullets. Gaige's robot was too busy protecting its creator and destroying Loaders to help while Axton and Salvador were weakening the Badasses with a turret and gunzerking so it was up to Maya to take care of them.

"Hey, guys! I just realized something!" the Commando screamed over the noise of the battle, "We totally forgot Krieg!"

00000

"STOP DYING AT ME!" the sort of friendly Psycho roared at the Bloodshot Bandit as he slaughtered him with his Buzz Axe.

"I can't see her anymore... She was so clear and bright... but the blood is in my eyes, and now I can only watch the ocean of blood... It's waves crash against my forehead again and again, AND I JUST NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SURF!"

Krieg was currently ridding the world of the useless pieces of meat that dared to pose a threat to the innocent. This was one of the few things that Krieg could agree with his inner voice since he couldn't completely ignore it. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those times where the two minds that were constantly contradicting each other would work together.

(You do know that we were supposed to meet up at Sanctuary an hour ago, right?)

"NIPPLE SALADS!" the outer Krieg yelled out in response while resuming to disembowel more bandits, getting a sigh from the rational part of his brain.

Then the inner voice came up with an idea that should convince him to get going as they continued their rampage all over the Bandit camp. But as he was about to put it into action, the AI, Guardian Angel, called them on their ECHO device, which surprisingly still works even after his darker side had used it to beat Hyperion personal to death on several occasions.

"Krieg, what are you still doing here? You need to get to Opportunity and help the others!" the AI shouted at them.

"I was enjoying that!"

"Ugh! I don't have time to explain but you need to get there right now or-"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Jack the Ripper is in Opportunity!"

At that, both sides of the Psycho went silent. The Ripper was a powerful and unstoppable being that even he could recognize with his shattered mind. It meant that his kinda friends were in danger especially **her**.

You won't get there in time by car so I arrange it that the Fast-travel station will take you straight into the city. **Now hurry!**"

Without another word, Krieg bulldozed the remaining bandits to the nearest Fast Travel station. He ignored the bullets that grazed his shield and selected the coordinates to the Hyperion city. The familiar yet alien sensation of being digitalized overcame his body and transported him to the greatest confrontation he'll ever have.

"I'M…COMING!"

00000

"Oh, yeah," Maya, Gaige, and Salvador simultaneously said as they had just noticed that too. Zer0 remained silent as usual. It was clear that the Psycho slipped their minds, which was understandable since they were preoccupied by the fact of facing a more dangerous and crazier Psycho than their fellow Vault Hunter.

The Siren didn't notice the grenade that a Loader threw at her before it was too late. The blast sent her flying and she landed on her back with shields fully depleted. She tried to return to her feet, disregarding the protests of her body to stay down because following them would lead to fatal results.

"Maya, look out!" Axton shouted at her, seeing a (what they had recently dubbed) Skag Loader jumped at her now vulnerable state from behind.

She barely had enough time to turn around yet alone shoot at it. So she shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to see the end and waited for death to claim her.

**SHIIING!**

She opened up her eyes at the sound of a blade to see that the Skag Loader had been sliced in half and both halves laid by her sides. What really caught her attention was the man wielding a red sword.

The man had simmering silver hair that seemed unnatural. He looked to be around her age if not younger. His face was androgynous and it gave him a pretty boy look to it but there was no way that he was wimpy or stuck up like most pretty boys from his expression and with he just did. He was also only wearing underwear that made him half-naked.

"_Wait, what!?"_ the Siren thought in surprise, a blush forming on her cheeks as she took in the sight of the strange man.

He had a similar build to the assassin but he was a bit buffer and had better defined muscles. She briefly wondered what it would feel like to trail her finger along his chiseled pecs to his washboard abdomen until her finger reached his-

"_WHAT AM I THINKING!?"_

It wasn't the time to ogle at some sexy man she had just met like a girl from high school. There were more important things to do right now and she had no idea on who was the guy anyway.

She then noticed that a certain redhead who was an actual girl from high school was currently ogling the man and completely forgetting the battle around them. Maya would have scolded the girl if she weren't surprised by what all the Loaders did next.

"Jack the Ripper located. Preparing to engage. Lethal force authorized." All of the Hyperion machines chorused, turning all their attention to the man who had saved the Siren's life and ceasing their assault on the somewhat exhausted Vault Hunters.

"I'm going to enjoy this," the man who the machines identified as Jack the Ripper whispered to himself so quietly that only a shocked Maya could hear.

If the Loaders could feel fear, they would have been scared shitless at the mere look that the Ripper gave them.

"You must be the bandits that 'Handsome Jack' wants me to kill," the Ripper stated, glancing at pale sight of the Siren and showing his disdain at the mention of the CEO's name, "Let's have a nice and long talk after this."

"_We're next" _was what she thought that last statement meant.


	5. Oops

**AN:**

**For those who were wondering about Raiden's new cyborg body, it's a more human looking version than the one that he had at the end of MGS 4. It still has all of the upgrades that he obtained before the timeline of Borderlands started and a lot more from you saw from the previous chapters.**

**The High Frequency Murasama blade is now a digistruct that Raiden can call out, not unlike how Zer0 with his sword because he has a built-in digistruct backpack like what the Vault Hunters have.**

**Also, you can expect to see him demonstrate more of his upgrades that he may or may not be aware of.**

**The Vault Hunters weren't the only ones to have forgotten about Krieg. I too forgot about the Psycho and I wrote that part with him being forgotten to add him to the story without completely editing some parts.**

**To Fan O' Fanfic: I like you too bro but as a friend, okay. So please stop saying you love me because the first time that you said it was good enough.**

**Now, on with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.**

Chapter 4

Talking with scum like him always left a nasty taste in Raiden's mouth, which was strange since he doesn't have any taste receptors unless someone gave him one.

This brought back the question on who had upgraded his body and what else had they done to him. It seemed that he could still do things that his last body could do like his enhanced speed, strength, and durability plus some new features. The HF Murasama blade can now materialize in his hand by focusing on the image of the sword. It could also disappear whenever he dismissed it or 'sheathe' it so it will be easier to carry it around. Not that it was heavy for him.

He then spotted a purple block that was glowing on the ground. He picked it up and examined it. It sparked some familiarity from his memories.

"_I wonder,"_ the cyborg thought right before he crushed the unknown material in his hand.

Energy coursed throughout his body as it replenished his fuel cells and repaired the small damages that he had sustained from when he didn't have his sword with him.

"Nothing like Eridium to charge a cyborg up," Raiden commented after recharging with the block of what he had confirmed to be Eridium.

"Now let see who are these so called bandits," he said out loud as he walked towards the gunfight and brought out six holograms of the wanted posters of each of the bandits or Vault Hunters as they were called by. He had obtained these from the memory banks of one of the UGs.

The first poster showed a man who had short-cropped hair and slightly tanned skin. He carried himself like a soldier and was probably one as well. His bounty was five billion dollars for war crimes. So Raiden concluded that he was a soldier that went AWOL. Name: Axton.

The second poster showed a man that was a bit beefier than the last one. He also looked like he had recently been through a scrap fight. His crimes were manslaughter, theft, arson, destruction of property, trespassing, cannibalism, public indecency, and profanity, which all earned him a bounty of ninety-nine billion dollars and ninety-nine cents. Cannibalism, really? He must also have such a potty mouth if profanity was made a crime for him. Name: Salvador.

The third poster showed a redheaded girl who could be no more than a teenager. She was wanted for the creation of unauthorized technology and… excessive adorability? How is that a crime exactly? Anyway, her bounty was eight hundred and twenty billion dollars. Name: Gaige.

The fourth poster showed a man or what Raiden assumed to be a man wearing a pitch-black helmet that completely concealed his face and identity. He was wanted for political assassination and had a bounty of thirty-two billion dollars. But the cyborg suspected that was most likely not the only crime he had committed and that he probably covered his tracks. Name: Zer0

The fifth poster showed a man wearing a gas mask over his face. He had a bounty of a hundred billion dollars. The only crime listed was being a property of Hyperion. This only meant that the man was an experiment who escaped from the company and they want him back. Raiden doesn't like experimenting on human beings, not at all. Name: Krieg.

The last poster showed a woman with bright blue hair and pale skin. Name: Maya. She had a bounty of seven hundred and twenty billion dollars. Her crime was being-

"A siren!" Raiden exclaimed in disbelief, rage clouding his vision. The Ripper was threatening to be released but he held it back for now.

"No. I thought that they're all dead. I thought that I killed them all."

It was a huge possibility that she doesn't have anything to do with the ones that he killed. So he kept his emotions on the matter in check.

Then it all fell into place. The Eridium and the Sirens made him realized what was happening or at least an inkling of it. The warrior that John Xanders was talking about was none other than an Eridian Warrior and it was being kept inside some sort of vault. No. He can't let it happen again. He can't let anyone control the Warrior.

He knew that the man had lied to him about the Vault Hunters and tried to make them look like the enemy. He wasn't fooled even for a second. These Vault Hunters must be trying to stop the man.

"Maybe someone should help them," Raiden announced, "Someone like me for example."

…

" I should stop talking to myself. Like right now. This instant. Right away. Just how long was I in that container?"

He quickly performed what Boris like to call Ninja Run. Electricity was flowing throughout his legs, charging them up and enhancing them. He picked up his pace when he heard an explosion and he arrived in the nick of time to see a cheap copy of an LQ-84i attempting to kill the Siren, Maya. On instinct, he jumped in front of the UG, called out the HF Murasama blade, and used it to slice the UG in half.

The remaining UGs turned all of their attention to him and halted their onslaught on the exhausted Vault Hunters.

"Jack the Ripper located. Preparing to engage. Lethal force authorized."

"I'm going to enjoy this," the cyborg ninja whispered to himself and gave the UGs a look that had made lesser men lose consciousness and braver men wet themselves.

"You must be the bandits that 'Handsome Jack' wants me to kill," he stated, glancing at the pale sight of the Siren and showing his disdain at the mention of the CEO's name, "Let's have a nice and long talk after this."

He had attempted to make it clear that he wasn't their enemy and he wanted to ask them about some things. He unexpectedly used the same tone that he used when he had saved Sonny from the Patriots. Considering how that turned out, he was pretty sure that he got the message across to the Siren that he meant them no harm.

00000

"_He's going to kill us,"_ the Siren panicked as she watched the Ripper slice apart the Loaders like they were paper with his sword that had an eerie red glow to it.

She kept imagining that the Loaders were she and her friends being cut down by the Psycho. She could she that it was about to become a reality and it left her frozen. She had faced Bullymongs, Skags, Rakks, bandits, robots, cannibals, and a cyborg that defeated their predecessors, but all of that didn't even come close to what was in front of her.

The monks back at her home world, Athenas had trained her in combat from the moment she could walk for one purpose. They had trained her to prepare her for the return of Jack the Ripper, the one who had hunted down the very first generation of Sirens and murdered them in cold blood. She thought that it was a lie at first with all the things they had done on Athenas. But maybe she should've listened to them more.

Still, the man before her wasn't what she expected that the Ripper would look like. She thought that the Ripper had like fangs, horns, and claws. Basically, she thought that he would look more demonic not some pretty boy heart throb with a hot ass bo-

"_WHAT AM I THINKING!? STOP IT BRAIN!"_

00000

The Ripper wasn't what Zer0 thought he would be like. When he had first seen him in action, he fought like a wild beast yet he was quite skilled under all that savagery. His movements were now quick and fluid much similar to how the assassin moves. It was as if the Ripper was a completely different person to the one they had witnessed in the recording.

But from he could see from what the Ripper was capable of, Zer0 was going to enjoy dueling against a worthy adversary such as him.

00000

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Axton cursed under his breath, as he was distracted from the battle by the Ripper who all the Loaders placed their focus on so they weren't attacking him and the others.

"Hey, Salvador!" he called out to the Gunzerker as brought out his missile launcher, "I want you to know that you're the greatest friend I ever had."

"You too," the native-born Pandoran replied as he brought out two missile launchers, "It's a good day to die, eh ese?"

"Yeah it is."

They both pointed their respective weapons at the Ripper and started shooting every missile they had, hoping it would do something to the immortal.

00000

Raiden had just finished dispatching the last UG that had a better design than the others when he detected a volley of missiles heading right towards him.

He simply faced the incoming volley and activated Blade Mode. Faster than the naked eye could see, he cut them down, one after the other where they exploded harmlessly to the sides.

He noticed that these missiles came from where the ex-soldier, Axton and the short man, Salvador were. He then realized that it was them that fired at him when he saw the still smoking rocket launchers in their hands and the dumbfounded expression on their faces.

Did they just shot at him? Even when he clearly told them that he only wanted to talk to them. Wait. Did he use the Ripper's voice when he told them that or his sort of diplomatic one?

…

Oops. They probably thought that he was going to kill them later.

Before he could fix the misunderstanding he heard a voice of a young girl shout out.

"Get him DT!"

He then felt something smack on his left side with a force greater than a Mastiff UG that sent him flying until he hit a wall, leaving a human shaped dent deep on the metal. He had also lost his grip on the Murasama blade.

"Ow," he calmly said as he pried himself off the wall. The UG that had attacked him came charging at him again. Being fully prepared this time, he acrobatically flipped over the giant UG and delivered a crushing electrically charged kick to its back, slamming it to the very same heavily damaged wall.

Unlike the other UGs, this one didn't go down so easily and continued its assault on the cyborg. He dodged a couple of its attacks and then blocked a swipe from its claws with one arm. It looked like he still had superior strength than it. He charged his other hand with enough energy to power a house non-stop for days and he used it to punch the UG. The result was much better than the time that he used it on Senator Armstrong (may his soul burn in hell).

"Deathtrap!" a red-haired girl, which he recognized as Gaige, shrieked as the Giant UG crumbled under his punch.

So this was the unauthorized technology that the girl created. He by all honesty had to say that he was impressed. She was able to build a UG that would be top-class even among the standard Metal Gears. He could see why she was considered to be more dangerous and worth more than a Siren. If this goes into mass-production, it would a make a force to be reckoned with.

The cyborg ninja clapped his hands together and held them out firmly in place as if in prayer.

"That won't work on me," he said to the now visible Zer0 who was trying to remove his sword from Raiden's iron tight hold on it. The other Zer0 that was standing far away fizzled out of existence, revealing it to be a hologram. It was clever and would've worked if he hadn't already known about that trick. Hell, even he had used it too a couple of times before.

As he was about to once again explain the misunderstanding, a blue energy field enveloped him and lifted him in the air.

"Oh, great. Phaselock," he groaned, recognizing the Siren power that gave him a lot of difficulty in the past.

He stared at the Vault Hunters that gathered in front of him with a dead-pan as they aimed their guns at him. He could only see one way to resolve this before it escalated further.

"I surrender. You win," he sighed, holding his hands out in submission. Their dumbfounded looks on their faces amused the cyborg and he wished that he had a camera to take a picture of this.

**Click!**

"_What do you know? I do have one,"_ he said mentally as the image of their faces was saved into his memory banks, which he could bring out anytime he wants.


	6. AN

**I'm sorry to announce that I won't be continuing this story for a while. I don't have any more inspirations to write and it may be possible that I might rewrite the whole story. I also took out chapters 6, 7, and 8 because I'm not satisfied with them so they will experience some editing.**

**Be sure to vote in the poll that I made because whoever or whatever you pick will affect how I'm going to proceed with the story. I will start writing again after this is done.**

**The choices and current results are:**

**Harem- 8**

**Lilith- 3**

**Mad Moxxi- 3**

**Maya- 1**

**None, leave him be- 2**


	7. New Old Look

This chapter went through a lot of editing.

I got impatient so I already closed the poll. I got what I needed anyway.

Poll Results:

Harem- 8

Mad Moxxi- 3

Lilith- 3

None, leave him be- 2

Maya- 1

Chapter 5

"Say what now?" The Vaults Hunters chorused their confusion, jaws dropping to the floor except for Zer0.

"I said 'I surrender. You win.'" the Ripper repeated as he raised an eyebrow.

"Um. You're not going to try to kill us or something?" Gaige asked the trapped Psycho.

"Do you want me to kill you?" the Ripper tilted his head in bemusement and he crossed his arms.

"No. Please no. I really appreciate it if you don't," Axton quickly answered as he shook his head.

"Alright," he shrugged in response.

"Okay everyone, group huddle," the Commando announced as he motioned at his companions to come closer.

"We seriously not going to trust this guy simply because he surrendered," Maya furiously whispered.

"Yeah, I agree. Remember how easy it was for him to stop our rockets," Salvador stated.

"He's toying with us/ He hasn't shown his true strength/ we should be careful," the assassin delivered another one of his haikus for the situation.

"He's probably just gonna stab us in the backs and eat our organs," the mechromancer pitched in recalling some of the stories where Jack the Ripper feasted on the innards of his victims and not all of them were dead when he did that to them.

"I have never eaten anyone's organs not once in my entire life. I'll have you know. And I could still hear you by the way," the Ripper called out to them, still trapped in the Siren's Phaselock.

"Can you please not interrupt us?" Gaige pouted adorably at him, "We're trying to have a group discussion here."

"I'm just saying," he shrugged. He could now see why she was wanted for excessive adorability, "I just hate it when people think that we were the same person. I am _not_ that old."

An enemy mercenary had once discovered Raiden's past and had mistaken him for the original Jack the Ripper, a serial killer that lived in London in 1888. It had irked the cyborg ninja to no end as the man called him a vampire or some other form of immortal monster. He did not particularly enjoy that comment due to his experience with a self-proclaimed immortal, call sign: Vamp. To be fair, he did slaughter his entire fellow mercenary during his Ripper state before eventually putting an end to the hysterical man's rambling.

These guys were probably thinking the same thing, which may be the reason why they attacked him.

"Wait a minute," the Commando gaped at the cyborg's statement, "Are you not Jack the Ripper, the Psycho that slaughtered countless innocents?"

"No. I rather die than hurt an innocent person," he replied, "Only the ones who deserve it."

"And I prefer to be called Raiden."

The Phaselock enveloping him was suddenly released and dropped him at this revelation. Raiden lightly landed on his feet and then dusted nonexistent dirt off him. He didn't need to do that but the feeling of being trapped in another dimension always made him uncomfortable. It took awhile for the feeling to wear off.

"Are you really Raiden?" the Siren stared at him with wide-eyes.

The cyborg ninja lifted his right hand and activated the magnetic force in it, pointing at the Murasama blade stabbed to the ground a good way off from where he was. The HF blade shook a bit before launching itself handle first to him.

It returned to his hand in the same way whenever he threw the sai Dystopia only for it to return to his hand. He had used the same Lorentz force technology that Monsoon had except it was only on a minor scale, giving him the ability for thrown weapons to come back to his hand. He didn't gain the power to lift metal objects with it or split his body apart. It would make him too much like the nihilistic cyborg.

Once the sword was back in his grasp, he willed the customized sheath to materialized. A sheath with a trigger and magazine attached to it then appeared in his other hand. He flicked the blade, removing any dirt that latched onto it, and slid it into the modified case.

"That's my name," he finally answered her as he dismissed his sheathed weapon.

Before they could respond, Raiden's codec beeped, signaling an incoming call. The Vault Hunters also received a call at the very same time as he did.

"Greetings, Raiden. I see that you and the Vault Hunters have already been acquainted," a voice that none of them could recognize spoke.

"Who is this?" Raiden demanded.

"That is of no importance," it monotonously replied, "Now unless you want history to repeat itself, I require that you assist the Vault Hunters in defeating the Eridian Warrior."

"Hey, we're already working on a way to stop the Vault from opening," Axton told the mysterious contact, "We won't have to fight the Warrior once we have the Key."

"The opening of the Vault is inevitable. It cannot be stopped, only delayed. It would be better to remove the threat before it will be too late to destroy the Warrior."

"That is why I arranged for Raiden to arrive in Pandora. He had faced similar threats before and is the most suited to face it."

"You're the one that sent me here," Raiden growled as his glowed red like how the Vault Hunters saw the Ripper's eyes do.

"Affirmative. I was the one who sent you to Pandora and upgraded your body…by your request."

"What!" he started as well as the Vault hunters.

"Before I continue, I have the solution to your present…predicament such as your lack of clothing."

"Oh, right." He had forgotten about that and if he could, he would've blushed in embarrassment because he was standing in front of two women half-naked.

"Simply open up the menu of your ECHO, which is a newer version of a codec and is your current model."

A HUD of a menu popped up in Raiden's vision. It looked different from the menus of the different Codecs that he owned in the past but he figured that since it was a newer model, the menu would have a different design than the others. (The menu that he opened up looked like the same menu when you open the ECHO menu in Borderlands 2.)

"Next go to your inventory and select the outfit that you wished to wear. I had taken the liberty to give you clothes that you are most familiar with."

He went to the inventory and saw the Murasama blade there along with several sets of clothes. The first set of clothes that he saw gave him a sense of nostalgia and he decided to select that for old times sake.

A black bodysuit that was made for stealth missions covered his body as it was slowly being constructed by blue-ish white squares. As it fully materialized, he was wearing the same bodysuit that he wore during the Manhattan Incident in 2009 (he now looks like what he did in Metal Gear Solid 2 except he has the same hairstyle that he had in the prologue of Metal Gear Rising: Reveangeance).

"Much better," he said to himself as he attached the Murasama blade to his belt. He could've just left the HF blade in the inventory but he preferred having his weapon out where he can see it. Plus, he was fond of the quick draw feature of the sheath in spite of the previous owner cutting off his left arm with it.

"Now tell who the hell are you," he said to the unknown contact.

"In due time. But all that I can tell you that you knew me quite well in the past. All of you should quickly evacuate the city for Hyperion had-" the transmission was suddenly cut off when they heard a demented a scream.

"I HAVE THE SHINYEST MEAT BICYCLE!"

Raiden swiftly drew out his sword to block what appeared to be an ax with a buzz saw where the head of the ax was supposed to be. The offending weapon was clearly aimed for his head and the person wielding had considerable strength behind it. The cyborg had to put a little more effort to prevent the teeth of the buzz saw from digging into his face.

When he made eye contact with his new adversary, he instantly recognized him as one of the Vault Hunters to be more specific the Psycho named Krieg.

"RIP THE FLESH!" Krieg yelled right at his face at the top of his lungs.

The cyborg ninja responded by pushing the buzzaxe back with his enhanced strength. The Psycho stumbled back a couple of feet and nearly fell on his butt.

As the madman regained his balance, he took out an assault rifle and aimed at the cyborg.

"It's time to bleed!" he screamed as he squeezed the trigger and let out a barrage of flaming bullets at his target.

Raiden twirled his blade in circle to deflect the bullets as he dashed at the Psycho with Ninja Run. He noticed that his blade was being heated up slightly every time a bullet hits it. He could tell that they were no ordinary bullets when he took a closer look at the projectile right before the HF blade diverted them. If he were using a regular sword, the heated shots would have melted the metal.

"_That's interesting,"_ he thought, as he got close enough to the unstable Vault Hunter. In a blur of motion, he cleanly sliced the top of the rifle off thus destroying the gun.

He then slammed the butt of his sword on the man's stomach. The force of the strike threw Krieg back and he would have been knocked out if it weren't for his shield absorbing the damage.

"Krieg, stop!" Maya called out to the Psycho as he got back up and was about to shoot at Raiden again except with a shotgun. He immediately halted and turn to stare at the siren, "He's not the Ripper."

To say that Raiden was surprise was an understatement. Fortunately, his face returned to its stoic expression to conceal his astonishment.

It seemed that the people here were fully aware about his reputation as both Jack the Ripper and as Raiden but they weren't aware that the two were one and the same. He was still curious on how much they know about him both as the Ripper and as Raiden.

He didn't even know them well enough to tell them his secrets anyway.

He then realized that he had introduced himself as Jack the Ripper to the bastard, John Xanders (Raiden refuses to call him that ridiculous title because he loathed the fact that they share the name: Jack even though the former disliked his real name). That will cause some problems in the future.

_John Xanders located_

"_That's convenient,"_ he thought when he saw the mini-map HUD showed him the whereabouts of the corrupt CEO.

He then set off to kill the tyrant while the Vault Hunters were trying to explain to their deranged companion that he was their ally in terms that the Psycho could understand. Not that it was really working out well since he was still screaming something about cockatiels and ribcages.

"I POWDERED MY COCKATIEL FOR THE RIBCAGE SLAUGHTER!"

"Just what the hell did Hyperion do to this guy?" Raiden angrily muttered to himself as he Ninja Ran to where the man responsible was. Oh, he's going to make John Xanders suffer and the Ripper within him will enjoy every minute of it.


	8. Rain Transformed

AN:

This will be a Harem fic but it will be mostly one-sided since Raiden still needs time to move on after losing his family so he will be totally oblivious to how women see him and uncomfortable to the ones he does know that are interested in him. He will eventually pair up with someone in the sequel (Oops! Spoilers!).

Chapter 6

"Salt the wounds!"

"You can salt all the wounds later, Krieg," Maya held her hands out in an attempt to placate the Psycho, "But we're already in enough trouble as it is with attacking Raiden before you did so we need you to calm down and not try to kill him again."

"Nipple salads!" he screamed as he tried to charge at the legendary hero again but Axton and Salvador were holding his arms to stop him from moving.

"We still have to deal with Handsome Jack's body double," the Siren sighed at the Psycho, "And the actual Ripper might be here too if Raiden's here."

"C'mon, Krieg. Would you do it for a Psycho Snack?" Gaige asked the restrained Vault Hunter as she took out a rectangular box with a picture of a chibi Psycho that had an oversized thumbs-up and there were also the words: "Psycho Snack! Made From Real Human Parts!" on it.

The single eye that could be seen through Krieg's mask brightened with extreme manic glee as he broke out of the Commando and the Gunzerker's grip and snatched the box of cookies from the Mechromancer's hand.

"I'll take that as a yes," the red-haired girl said as the man lifted his mask slightly to scarf down the questionable brand of product.

"Where did you even get that?" Maya asked the younger girl as she pointed at the box of Psycho Snacks.

"Wait! Don't tell me. I don't want to know," the bluenette held up a hand at the red-head as she was about to answer.

"At least he's calm now," Axton shrugged as he stared at the Psycho who was still gorging himself in cookies, "Sort of."

"Where's Zer0?" the Gunzerker looked around to find the assassin nowhere in sight. He also found another person missing in their group. "Where's Raiden?!"

00000

Raiden crouched on the edge of the balcony that he was on. He activated the zoom-in function of his optics to observe his target from afar.

He could see the man talking to his ECHO, most likely shouting out orders to kill the Vault Hunters and capture him. There were several armed men that were labeled as Combat Engineers by the HUD of his ECHO. He could also see plenty of the clunky UGs that were called Loaders and the big round UG called Constructor (for some reason, it had the word: Badass added to its name).

As much as he wanted to charge in there and slice everything to pieces, he couldn't because he would risk the high possibility of the man escaping and he wasn't sure if he'll get another chance like this again.

The cyborg suddenly picked something up on his scanners. He tore the Murasama Blade from its sheath and held it to the neck of the person who snuck up behind him. He then felt something cold touch the side of his neck.

"Zer0," Raiden said the name of the owner of the throat that he held his sword to.

"Raiden," the assassin spoke the name of the cyborg who he also held his to the man turned machine's neck.

The two swordsmen stared each other for few minutes, sizing the other one up. After enduring the unbearable silence, the two warriors put their blades away. Zer0 stored his digistruct sword in his SDU (Storage Device Unit) while Raiden placed the Murasama blade back in its scabbard.

"You here to kill this guy?" asked Raiden which sounded more like a statement.

"He's not the real one/Jack is hiding somewhere else/That one's a decoy," the assassin recited a haiku as he slowly shook his head.

"Shit!" the cyborg cursed, "No wonder it was too convenient."

"He still has some use/A device that makes scanners/ Think he's the real one."

"Hmm, I see," Raiden said, catching on quick, "You want to use this device to access certain things that only the real man himself can get to."

He earned a nod as a reply from the silent Vault Hunter.

Zer0 took out a sidearm from his SDU and offered it to his silver haired companion.

"Do you want a gun?/You'll need one on Pandora/Can't keep using swords."

"As you can see, I'm doing fine without one," he scoffed at his offer as placed his hand on the pommel of his sword to emphasize this statement.

"Shouldn't you call your allies to tell them that we located the target?"

"ECHO's not working/Hyperion is jamming/Communications."

"Isn't talking like that exhausting?"

"What is exhausting?/What are you talking about?/I don't understand," the assassin tilted his head in confusion.

"You have got to be kidding me," Raiden said in a flat tone as he stared at him blankly.

"Things were a lot simpler when I was frozen," he groaned as he jumped down the balcony.

He began to stealthily make his way to the double of his original target, taking out the engineers from behind and dragging their bodies somewhere inconspicuous. In a matter of time, all of the human enemies besides his new target were eliminated.

Stealth ops was his specialty and his enemies weren't being alert of their surroundings so they didn't notice that anything was amiss until they felt the reinforced blade went through their backs, stabbing both the spine and the heart at the same time.

The only ones left were the UGs and the Jack's Body Double. He had to be more careful with them now since the UGs will explode once they're eliminated and the resulting explosion will alert the rest of his presence.

Before he could come up with a strategy to quietly deal with this problem, he heard a loud gunshot that was followed by one of the Loaders exploding.

The cyborg ninja turned to glare at his fellow ninja who was still on the balcony where he left him and was holding a sniper rifle out, the barrel still smoking. There was a hologram of a smiley face appearing in front of his mask.

"Bandits! I will stop them," the double called out rather unenthusiastically upon detecting the Vault Hunter. it seemed that he had yet to notice the other nearby threat (Raiden).

Seeing as how the element of surprise was lost, Raiden leapt out of his hiding spot and sliced the Loader beside the double in half.

The double's illusionary façade stared at the cyborg in disbelief and fear. He aimed his revolver at him only for Raiden to cut the arm that was holding the gun off, the already powerful properties of the Murasama blade plus the high frequency enhancements completely bypassing the double's highly durable shield.

"Wait! I'm not Handsome Jack!" the double pleaded as he held the stub where his arm used to be and was brought to his knees from both pain and terror, "I didn't sign up for this!"

"I know that you're not him," Raiden smirked at the man, "And you signed up to be a walking target so all of this was to be expected."

With one swift swipe the double's head was decapitated from its body.

"You just didn't expect me to be added to the equation."

Raiden looked away from the beheaded corpse to see the squadron of Loaders and the Badass Constructor that were heading to their location.

"I am lightning," he announced as he pointed his blade at the enemies with electricity visibly being emitted from his body like a generator.

He then held the crimson blade with both hands. He could feel the weapon yearning to bathe in the blood of his foes as if the soul of the previous owner rested within it. And he was ready to unleash it.

"The rain transformed!" he roared as he charged at the UGs with the ancient blade in his hands. He clashed with them as if he was a force of nature, unpredictable and unrivaled. Like he said earlier, it was as if he was the very lightning striking down on them.

At that moment, Raiden truly appeared to be the incarnation of the god of lightning that was his namesake.

00000

The other Vault hunters arrived just in time to witness Raiden decapitating Jack's double and they definitely heard what he said after killing the disguised engineer.

"Oh my God! That was awesome!" Gaige and Axton exclaimed in unison. They were practically having a fangasm at the sheer epicness that Raiden displayed. The two then gave each other a high-five.

The former soldier cradled his hand in pain because the Mechromancer had used her prosthetic arm that held the strength to crush concrete to deliver the high-five.

Maya quickly went to his side to see the extent of his injuries. In her peripheral vision, she saw Deathtrap and Krieg joining the battlefield, taking out any strays that evaded Raiden's blade and Zer0's scope. Salvador also charged in with two Vladof guns a blazing in each hand while Gaige followed behind with a Dahl rifle in her arms. After seeing that the man's hand was fine and that he was only being a baby, the Siren who was armed with a Maliwan SMG that was an incendiary weapon, and the Commando, who was armed with a Jakobs pistol in his uninjured hand (he insisted that his hand was broken and couldn't use a gun that required two hands), entered the fray to help finish off the remaining Loaders.

In a matter of minutes, the clunky machines were reduced to scrap metal.

"Yeah! Vault Hunters: One! Hyperion douchebags: Zero!" Axton raised his gun in celebration. He turn to look at his teammates and Raiden that gathered together only to see them staring at something behind him. He turned around to see what they were staring at.

"Is it just me or does that moon have a giant 'H' on it?" Raiden asked as he pointed at the Hyperion moonbase looming over them.

"The moon has a giant 'H' on it," they all replied at the same time, only Zer0 didn't say anything.

"I told you Jack the Ripper that I'm going to make you pay for insulting me!" the angry voice of the CEO of Hyperion announced through their ECHOs, "And I will show you how Hyperion keeps their promises!"

The center of the 'H' glowed as it prepared to fire artillery that was capable of leveling an entire city.

"Well, we're totally screwed," Salvador said as the moonbase let out its barrage.


End file.
